How to Write 疋 (pǐ) — Meaning “Roll of cloth; sickness radical (variant)”

Picture a one-meter cloth roll: the top line is the string tying it, the square middle is the cloth, and the bottom leg is the roll standing on a shelf. You can also think "one (一) mouth (口) of cloth and a person (人) carrying it" to link the shape to the meaning.

Write the top horizontal first, then the left vertical down, then two short horizontals inside, and finish with the right vertical. A common mistake is making the last vertical into a hook or curving it — keep it straight and slightly longer than the left one.

疋头 (pǐ tóu) means piece goods or cloth sold by the piece, used in fabric trade. 一疋 (yī pǐ) means a bolt of cloth, and 疋夫 (pǐ fū) is an ancient term for a commoner or ordinary person, often seen in historical texts.

疋 is rarely used alone today because the character 匹 has taken over as the standard word for a bolt of cloth. You may encounter 疋 in traditional fabric names, old literature, or as a radical component in some characters like 蛋 (egg) where it appears as a variant form.

Common words containing 疋 include: 疋头 (pǐ tóu) — Piece goods; cloth sold by the piece; 一疋 (yī pǐ) — a bolt of cloth; 疋夫 (pǐ fū) — Commoner; ordinary person.